Editor’s note: This is a developing story and will be updated periodically with new information. It was most recently updated 5/12/26 at 6pm ET. If you have tips about what’s going on at RNDC, please get in touch by emailing me ([email protected]) or texting me on Signal (dinfontay.11). Anonymity available.—Dave.

Republic National Distributing Company’s longtime wine wholesaling partner in Idaho has bought the disintegrating firm out of its stake in their long-running joint venture in the state, Fingers has learned.

“We took the opportunity to purchase RNDC’s equity in our wine business, and following an 18-year partnership that exceeded expectations, we’ve mutually agreed to move forward separately,” wrote Hayden Beverage Company chief executive Andy Mitchell in a memo to suppliers obtained by Fingers.

The move comes less than a month after RNDC announced it would sell its liquor brokerage in the Gem State to Martignetti Companies as part of a sweeping deal for 17 control markets. Now Hayden—Idaho’s largest wine distributorship—has ponied up to go it alone with the grape juice. According to Mitchell’s memo, the company closed on the deal May 8th.

RNDC did not respond to a request for comment.

Dodds Hayden, the multigenerational company’s owner and chairman, elaborated on the deal in an emailed statement to Fingers. “The Idaho wine LLC contained only brand rights and inventory,” he said. He declined to share the purchase price of those assets, noting “the process and valuation were primarily driven by the original operating agreement.” Hayden praised representatives of Young’s Market Company (with which the joint LLC was originally formed) and Jay Johnson, a former RNDC executive who retired in 2023, as “true professionals and gentlemen.” In response to a question about workforce, he was direct: “There will be no layoffs or any change in the operation,” nor a change in distribution licen se.